


Compatibility

by artenon



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Reality, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 05:49:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2139381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artenon/pseuds/artenon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tsukishima’s day was going just fine until Kuroo decided to follow him here and ask him prying questions like <i>what are you listening to</i> and <i>what’s your soul signal</i>.</p><p>[Soulmates AU]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Compatibility

**Author's Note:**

> soulmates au literally no one asked for
> 
> i started this two nights ago i honestly don't know how i wrote this so quickly

It’s a little known fact that Tsukishima used to be a hopeless romantic. This is because the only people who know are his brother and Yamaguchi, and neither of them will say anything about it if they know what’s good for them. Tsukishima will resort to blackmail if he has to.

 Another little known fact is that he used to love music. Although it’s a safe bet that most people assume that he still loves, or at least enjoys, music, so it’s probably more accurate to say that most don’t know that he hates most music.

“What are you even listening to all the time?”

Tsukishima’s been asked this question a lot over the years by various people, including everyone on the Karasuno volleyball team, and he’s not spared by Kuroo Tetsurou of Team Nekoma, either, who tugs lightly on the cord of his headphones as he asks the familiar question.

Tsukishima ignores him and continues to walk down the sidewalk, hand curled around the MP3 player in the pocket of his jacket.

“Helloooo,” Kuroo says, keeping pace with him. “I know you can hear me. Your music isn’t loud enough for me to even hear it coming out of your headphones.”

His current method of dealing with Kuroo is to ignore him until he gets bored and goes to bother someone else. Unfortunately, there’s no one else around for Kuroo to annoy right now, because Tsukishima decided to ditch the rest of the team during their lunch break for coffee and maybe an hour’s respite from their exhausting company at a café. He’s not sure how he ended up with a Kuroo-shaped shadow, because that was not part of the plan.

“Hey,” Kuroo says, apparently deciding that Tsukishima has spent too long mulling over his predicament, and reaches up to tug the headphones right from Tsukishima’s head.

Tsukishima snatches the headphones back before Kuroo can do something like put them on, which would be unacceptable.

“Touchy,” Kuroo mutters, and sticks his tongue out.

Tsukishima glares at him as he nestles his headphones around his neck. He clicks the MP3 off in his pocket. “Why are you following me?”

“Where are you going?” Kuroo returns.

“Hearthaven Café.”

“Well, so am I.” Kuroo shoves his hands in his pockets as he walks. “What a coincidence, huh?”

“Of course.”

Kuroo gives him a crooked grin. “So, since that’s established, what’re you listening to?”

“None of your business.”

“What, are you listening to something _embarrassing_?” He pauses. “Like, One Direction, or maybe a boys’ love drama CD—”

Tsukishima nearly trips. “What the _hell_.”

He shrugs. “Just pondering. Since you seem intent on leaving me guessing.”

Tsukishima isn’t sure which is worse, letting Kuroo know the truth, or leaving Kuroo to imagine him listening to boys’ love CDs whenever he sees him donning his signature headphones. For now, he tentatively goes with letting Kuroo know the truth as being worse. Very tentatively.

“Well, both your guesses were wrong,” he says. “Now stop bothering me.”

“Can’t help it if we’re going in the same direction. To the same place, in fact.”

“Ugh.”

“I get the feeling you don’t like me.”

“Did it take you this long? I must not have been expressing myself well enough until now.”

“Geez,” Kuroo says to himself, glancing away. “You’re usually decently polite, at least.”

“That was before I got used to you.” When Kuroo was still just his senior and the captain of a rival team. Tsukishima doesn’t know how he ended up becoming so familiar with Kuroo, but he does not approve.

“Oh!” Kuroo smiles. “Well, since we’re friends now, don’t you want to hang out with me?”

“I never said—why would I want to hang out with you,” Tsukishima says, stuttering a little in his disbelief.

“I could give you blocking tips?”

“We would just do that back at the gym,” Tsukishima points out.

They’re at Hearthaven Café now. Tsukishima doesn’t know the area well enough to go somewhere else, and even if he did, Kuroo would just follow him there. He didn’t walk all the way here to turn back now. Tsukishima resigns himself to the fact that he’s trapped about the same time Kuroo seems to realize it.

Kuroo smiles his irritating false smile and holds the door open for Tsukishima. “Surely you can indulge me for one afternoon.”

Tsukishima does his best to pretend that Kuroo doesn’t exist as he enters the café, heading straight for the line. Kuroo stands partly behind him, partly beside him, and Tsukishima gets about half a minute of silence before it’s ruined again.

“Sooo, why Hearthaven?”

Maybe simple, direct answers are the key. “Because I can find one anywhere, and I’m not picky.”

“That’s the only reason, huh.”

 “I’m…not sure I follow,” he says, genuinely confused.

“Hm.”

Kuroo doesn’t say anything as Tsukishima orders an iced caramel macchiato, and Tsukishima grudgingly waits as Kuroo buys a sandwich.

“How about we come back here tonight after practice?” Kuroo asks as he leads Tsukishima to an open table.

“…Why?”

Kuroo stalls, unwrapping his sandwich and taking a few bites from it.

“Kuroo-san—”

“Say,” he interrupts, “what’s your soul signal?”

He’s caught off-guard by the non sequitur.

“That.” Tsukishima grits his teeth. “That’s a personal question, isn’t it?”

Kuroo looks at him askance. “Is it? But people talk about it all the time, though.”

Tsukishima stands. He isn’t aware of doing it until he’s already up, and then he doesn’t want to just sit down again like a fool, so he just turns away, abrupt, and goes to wait for his macchiato at the pick-up counter.

Damn Kuroo and damn his nosiness. Tsukishima’s day was going just fine until Kuroo decided to follow him here and ask him prying questions like _what are you listening to_ and _what’s your soul signal_.

 _That’s my business_ , Tsukishima thinks when he finally receives his drink. He chews on the straw as he stalks back to the table, where Kuroo is already finishing his sandwich.

“Today is Saturday,” Kuroo announces.

“Yes,” Tsukishima says slowly. “It is.”

“Saturday nights, Hearthaven has karaoke night.”

“Right.” He’d forgotten about that, actually. It’s not like he’s ever attended one.

Kuroo tilts his head at Tsukishima. “I have the song.”

That should _not_ have made Tsukishima’s heart stutter. “Oh.”

He just…wasn’t expecting to hear that. It was a _personal detail_ , dammit.

“Yeah, so, I thought I’d come tonight, and I thought I’d invite you because it could be fun?”

“Kuroo-san, you don’t…” He hesitates. “You don’t _really_ expect to meet your soulmate at a ‘find your soulmate’ event, do you?”

Kuroo chuckles. “Well, that’s what they’re for, aren’t they?” He runs his fingers through his hair, contemplative. After a beat, he says, “But, no, I don’t really think I will. But that doesn’t mean they’re not fun.”

“Are you—” No, stop, stop. “—waiting for your soulmate?”

He immediately berates himself for asking, but he can’t help it. These questions have plagued him for years, and here is someone he can ask.

Kuroo leans towards him, eyes glinting. “Ah, so you are interested in this topic.”

He hopes he’s not blushing. “Shut up. Answer the question. Please. I mean, there’s no guarantee you’ll ever meet your soulmate, so…”

“Hmm.” Kuroo props his elbow on the table and rests his head on his hand. “I guess not. I wouldn’t say I’m ‘waiting.’”

“Then you’ve dated?” _Please stop talking_ , he tells himself.

“No,” Kuroo says. “But that’s just because I’ve never met anyone I would date. Who would also date me, at least. I wouldn’t be opposed to dating someone who wasn’t my ‘soulmate.’”

Tsukishima worries his straw as he contemplates Kuroo’s words. He wants to respond, but his own feelings on the matter are too personal, too private for him to share. He never talks about stuff like soul signals and soulmates, so why is he doing it now, and with Kuroo of all people?

It’s Kuroo’s fault for bringing it up in the first place, but it’s Tsukishima who felt the need to pursue it further and satisfy his own curiosity.

“Well, I think you’re compatible with many different people, and your soulmate is just the person you’re supposedly the most compatible with. Doesn’t mean you can’t fall in love with someone else.” Kuroo shrugs, and his demeanor shifts, signature false smile sliding into place. “But I’m just a high school brat, so what do I know, right? But since I answered your questions, you’ll come with me tonight, right?”

“I never agreed to that.”

“Sometimes I wonder if you know how to have fun.”

Tsukishima pushes his chair back, wincing a little at the sound of it scraping across the floor, and stands up. “I don’t care. And I’m heading back now.”

“Aw, but we still have time,” Kuroo says, tilting his head back to look at him.

“More time spent unnecessarily in your company?” Tsukishima retorts. “Pass.”

Kuroo stands up. “In which case, allow me to accompany you back.”

When he offers his arm to Tsukishima, Tsukishima can’t stop the disgusted look from crossing his face, and Kuroo laughs.

“Let’s head back, then,” Kuroo says, sliding his hands into his pockets.

“Yeah.”

Tsukishima trails after Kuroo as they walk back, but Kuroo quickly catches on and slows his pace so that they’re walking side-by-side.

“You never told me your soul signal, by the way.”

Tsukishima bites down on his straw reflexively. “None of your business,” he mutters.

“What are you so self-conscious about?” Kuroo’s teasing tone ensures that Tsukishima doesn’t mistake his question for concern. “Maybe you have an embarrassing mark?”

“Wrong,” Tsukishima says, and starts walking faster, which doesn’t work. Not that he expected it to.

“Why are you acting like you have something to hide?”

His persistence with the teasing tone is probably what makes Tsukishima snap.

“Maybe I just don’t want to share something like that with someone I’m not even close to.”

He pulls his headphones over his ears and mashes the play button on his MP3 player. The sound of ocean waves fill his ears and he lets out a slow breath, still maintaining his brisk pace.

His MP3 player is full of nature sounds, not because he particularly enjoys them, but because he can’t stand listening to music anymore (he’s got some instrumentals, though, and one playlist full of Vitamin String Quartet), but he still likes the snug fit of his headphones over his ears. He also appreciates how they block out everyone else, particularly annoying people like Kuroo.

Although Kuroo isn’t saying anything right now. He’s still keeping pace with Tsukishima, but he’s staring at the ground. Good. Tsukishima hopes he stays like that the entire walk back.

He knows it’s a foolish hope even as he thinks it, but he does get a surprising few minutes of silence. In fact, it’s not until the gym is in view that Kuroo asks, tentative, “Is your signal maybe…unusual?”

Tsukishima stops walking. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Er, like, hypothetically,” Kuroo says, “a yellow thread instead of a red one or…something like that.”

“Huh? I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

“Not many people have, which is why…well, if you don’t have anything like that, then it doesn’t matter.” Kuroo waves his hand in a dismissive motion.

“But you said you have the song,” Tsukishima says, curiosity overriding the part of him telling him to drop the soulmate conversation already. “Do you have something like that?”

“Hmm, it’s more of I know someone who does, but it’s not really my place to say more than that. Sorry. You can forget I mentioned it.”

Kuroo flashes him a grin and starts jogging to the gym. Tsukishima follows at a walk, frowning at Kuroo’s back. Was Kuroo actually showing concern for him just now? Actual, genuine concern?

“Impossible,” he mutters.

He finishes his macchiato and throws the empty cup away before entering the gym. The rest of his team and probably all of Nekoma, because they’re all annoyingly overeager, are already there despite their break hour not being over yet, warming up.

“Tsukishima! There you are!” Hinata waves at him. “Get over here!”

Tsukishima glances to where Kuroo is standing at the side of the gym, talking to Kenma. It occurs to him that he’s thought, more than once, that Kuroo and Kenma seem especially close, even more than best friends. But Kuroo’s apparently never dated.

Well, it’s no good thinking about these things. Tsukishima slides his headphones off and walks over to where Hinata is waiting, standing with his arms akimbo and his face set in a frown.

“Where have you been?” he demands.

Tsukishima shrugs. “Out. Does it matter? Break’s not even over yet.”

“Of course it matters!” Hinata exclaims, jumping up and down in his agitation. “You should have been practicing! Don’t you want to beat Nekoma today?”

“It’s just a practice match,” Tsukishima says.

He doesn’t even have to try harder than that to get Hinata fuming. He stomps one foot and opens his mouth, ready to retort, but Kageyama steps forward and whacks him upside the head.

“If you have time to argue with him then you have time to practice more, idiot.” He whirls around and starts back towards the net without even waiting for a response, but he must know Hinata will follow.

Right on cue, Hinata says, “I know that!” and darts after him, his annoyance towards Tsukishima forgotten.

All for the best, Tsukishima supposes. Riling Hinata up is fun, but he also gets annoying fast.

Without bothering to greet anyone else, Tsukishima heads to the locker room to change. No one else is there, but after he tugs his shirt over his head and turns around, he sees Kuroo standing by the door, watching him.

“What the hell, creep,” he says. “Stop following me everywhere.”

“Calm down, geez. I just figured I should apologize for earlier.”

“Apologize? You?”

“Ouch.” Kuroo rests a hand over his heart in mock hurt. “I like to provoke people but I never mean to make anyone seriously upset. Seems like this is the second time I’ve done just that to you, though, so I thought I’d apologize properly this time.”

“Second time?” Tsukishima asks.

“The first time was when I taunted you about the shorty overtaking you, remember?”

Tsukishima blinks. That was ages ago. “You didn’t even know my name then.”

“Eh.” Kuroo shrugs. “Anyway, if the soulmate thing really is such a touchy subject with you, then I won’t mention it anymore, so let’s just put this behind us and continue being friends, what do you say?”

“We were never friends,” Tsukishima grumbles, and Kuroo grins at him.

“By the way,” he says as he turns and grabs the doorknob, “that hypothetical I mentioned earlier has to do with Kenma, so don’t worry about it. He says it’s fine if you want to know but it’s really no big deal.”

 “You’re an ass,” Tsukishima says without really thinking.

“What?” Kuroo is still grinning, though, so he clearly knows what Tsukishima means.

“You knew I’d be curious.”

“Maybe I’ll tell you if you come with me to Hearthaven tonight,” Kuroo suggests.

Tsukishima tries to push past Kuroo and exit the locker room, but Kuroo shifts so he’s blocking the way, head tilted almost innocently.

“No,” Tsukishima says.

“Why not?”

“I—” _–don’t like music._ But he can’t say that. “—don’t sing.”

“You don’t have to sing, you know. You can just go there and enjoy my company—ah, you’re giving me that grossed out look again. Seriously, does this have anything to do with the soulmate thing?”

To admit that, yes, it has everything to do with the soulmate thing would be confessing too much, so Tsukishima says, “I just don’t see the point of going,” which isn’t a lie, really.

“Well, maybe you can indulge me?”

“I already did that once today,” Tsukishima reminds him.

“So indulge me again.”

Kuroo bats his eyelashes at him, and Tsukishima snorts.

Still…Kuroo was being considerate. Again. If Tsukishima had been honest, he’s positive Kuroo would have dropped the topic without further question.

 _Ugh._ “Fine, I’ll go.”

What’s a couple hours of torture? Damn it.

Kuroo’s genuine smile is unexpected and Tsukishima has to look away. “Are you going to let me back in the gym now?”

“Of course. Wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.”

Tsukishima ignores that statement as they rejoin the others back on the court.

“Do your best, okay?” Kuroo says, patting his back before ducking under the net to join his teammates on the other side. “I’ve been teaching you, after all. It would be embarrassing if you messed up.”

Tsukishima makes a show of rolling his eyes and doesn’t bother dignifying that with a response. Kuroo has enough other targets around now that Tsukishima can simply ignore him if he says anything annoying. Which is not to say that Kuroo failed to rile him up with his words, but there’s a small victory in not letting him know he succeeded.

He supposes part of what pisses him off about it is that Kuroo is as good at provoking people as he is. The difference between them is that Kuroo gets people worked up to make them play harder. Meanwhile, Tsukishima pisses people off for the hell of it, because it amuses him. Mocking others’ inadequacies probably makes him feel better about himself in some twisted way. Those who are superior to him still have their weaknesses, after all, and finding and exploiting them is what Tsukishima is good at.

Anyway, Kuroo is better than him in that way, but Tsukishima already knows he has character issues.

“What did Kuroo-san want with you?” Hinata asks. “He followed you into the locker room.”

Tsukishima rolls his eyes. “He was giving me tips on blocking,” he says.

“What?! No fair!” Hinata pouts. “How did you get to be such good friends with Kuroo-san and Bokuto-san, anyway?”

“I’m not,” Tsukishima says. “And they let you practice with them, too, so stop complaining.”

“Yeah, I guess. They’re really cool, aren’t they?” Hinata’s eyes light up and Tsukishima senses that he’s about to launch into a rant about how cool they are and how Fukurodani is a nationals level team and how it’s _so cool to be able to practice with them!_

“Get into position, or the match will start without you,” Tsukishima says, cutting him off before he has a chance to begin. Hinata has many modes of annoying, and fanboying is just one of them, along with why-aren’t-you-trying-harder-Tsukishima-you’ve-got-it-all. Although he’s beginning to appreciate that second thing more lately. Because of Yamaguchi’s words, not Hinata’s, and definitely not Kuroo or Bokuto’s.

He does try in their practice match. Like, actual full-effort try, even though it’s just a practice match with a team he doesn’t care about impressing, because maybe he’s got something to be proud of on this team after all. Plus, even though Kuroo’s specialty is blocking, it still feels damn good to stop his spikes.

The best part is Kuroo trying to smile and say, “good job,” each time, even though he’s clearly irritated that he was blocked.

Karasuno loses in the end, although they take it to a full three sets. It’s not a loss that leaves him frustrated, either, which is a change in himself that honestly kind of annoys Tsukishima, but in a good way, which makes no sense, but whatever. Hinata’s pumped up and demanding a rematch, to which everyone but Kageyama groans and refuses. Tsukishima seriously doesn’t understand how those two have so much stamina.

“Tsukishima!” Hinata says, bouncing over to him, and ugh. Friendly is another of Hinata’s modes of annoying. Actually, Hinata is pretty much just always annoying. “Do you think Kuroo-san will let us do extra practice with him if we ask?”

Tsukishima can see Kuroo walking over to them, and he evidently overhears Hinata’s question, because he drops a hand onto Hinata’s shoulder—causing the latter to jump—and says, “Sorry, shorty, but not tonight.”

Tsukishima tenses, wondering how much Kuroo will elaborate, but he just says, “Now, go help with the clean up.”

“Yessir!” Hinata salutes for some reason and scampers off like a puppy. It’s definitely not cute.

Kuroo elbows him lightly. “You help, too.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tsukishima says. He follows Kuroo to help him take down the net and that’s when it happens.

Kuroo starts humming some tune Tsukishima doesn’t recognize—or maybe he does, he isn’t really paying attention, though, because it feels like all the breath has been sucked from his lungs. His heart feels like it’s constricting, and all he can think is, _it’s him, it’s him, what the hell, it’s him, I found him._

“Hey, you okay?” Kuroo asks. “You’re really flushed.”

Tsukishima reaches for an excuse. “Well, excuse me for still catching my breath. We can’t all be like Hinata.”

Kuroo smirks at him. “You should probably do more independent exercise outside of practice to build your stamina.”

“Whatever,” Tsukishima says. He’s just glad Kuroo doesn’t seem to suspect anything. He still feels dizzy and breathless, and he can’t look at Kuroo without thinking, _You. You’re my soulmate. How the hell are you my soulmate? Or maybe not? Maybe it was a mistake._

Even as he thinks it, he knows he’s never been so sure of anything in his life.

Kuroo starts humming again anyway, and it definitely wasn’t a fluke, because Tsukishima’s chest tightens the moment the sound of it reaches his ears. He didn’t know finding your soulmate was supposed to be so damn painful, although now that the initial shock has worn off, his chest doesn’t hurt as much. It still feels strange, though. He wants it to stop.

And how is he supposed to tell Kuroo, now that he knows? This isn’t the kind of thing you keep a secret. But he doesn’t know how to say it, either. Damn, why couldn’t his soul signal be physical contact or the red string, so they would both know at the same time? Why does he have to have this knowledge to himself?

“Earth to Tsukki,” Kuroo says, singsong, and Tsukishima realizes he’s been going through the motions to help Kuroo clean up.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Kuroo says innocently. “You were spacing out.”

Tsukishima makes a noncommittal sound and heads for the locker room to change back to his regular clothes.

Seriously. Him and _Kuroo._

It’s unbelievable, but at the same time, it isn’t. Kuroo gets on his nerves sometimes, but he doesn’t actually hate him. He’s mostly annoyed by how he can simultaneously think Kuroo’s an ass and a better person than him. It kind of makes Tsukishima wants to be a better person, which he supposes is a good thing.

If he thinks about it, Kuroo’s already helped him grow as a person, not just as a volleyball player. This is irritating. Kuroo is too good for him. He’s an ass, and he’s too good for him.

Except they’re apparently soulmates. Tsukishima isn’t sure what he has to offer to Kuroo, though.

He finishes changing and slings his bag over his shoulder. Kuroo is waiting for him by the door again.

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Tsukishima sighs, and follows him out the room. “Let’s get this over with.”

“At least pretend to enjoy yourself, alright?” Kuroo asks as he leads him outside, where they’re greeted by a blast of cool air. “Or else I’ll feel bad.”

“Oh, in that case, I’ll be sure to complain the entire time.”

“Brat.”

Tsukishima treats him to his false sunny smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Hey,” Kuroo says, poking his shoulder. “You don’t get to be cheeky. Only I can be cheeky.”

“You’re not cheeky, you’re just an asshole.”

“You’re really hurting me today, Tsukki.”

“Try sounding sincere next time you say that. And I told you to stop calling me Tsukki,” he says.

“But it’s cute,” Kuroo says, smirking.

Tsukishima falters. He was always able to brush off Kuroo’s teasing before, but it’s different now. He can’t help but wonder if Kuroo might really find him cute. Which is not something he should be thinking about, because he can actually feel his cheeks heating up.

He distracts himself by fiddling with the zipper on his jacket and zipping it up.

“Are you cold?” Kuroo asks. “I’ll treat you to hot chocolate for your trouble.”

“You should be treating me to more than that for what I have to put up with,” Tsukishima mutters, mostly to himself, but Kuroo hears him.

“What do you want?”

“A shortcake should do it,” Tsukishima replies with a shrug.

“Done.”

“I was kidding,” Tsukishima says, because he actually feels bad. Why the hell is Kuroo being nice to him when Tsukishima is nothing but a pain in the ass?

“It’s fine,” Kuroo dismisses. “Consider it part of my apology.”

“Why did you even want me to go with you?” Tsukishima asks. “Why not Kenma-kun or someone else on your team?”

“Convincing Kenma to come out would be even harder than convincing you. Anyway, if you hadn’t noticed, you kind of have a colossal stick up your ass, and clearly I can help you with that.”

“I changed my mind about going out with you tonight,” Tsukishima says flatly.

“Aw, don’t be like that!” Kuroo links his arm through Tsukishima’s.

Tsukishima has to suppress a shudder at the sudden contact. It shouldn’t be a big deal. Kuroo does stuff like this all the time.

His new perception of Kuroo is confusing. He’s not sure what he was expecting—to immediately fall in love with him? But he never expected his soulmate to be Kuroo—or, indeed, anyone he already knew—in the first place.

Everything was so much simpler when his soulmate was just an abstract concept and not a tangible person, specifically Kuroo Tetsurou.

He lets Kuroo pull him along the rest of the way to Hearthaven, pretending that he doesn’t secretly enjoy the weight of Kuroo’s arm against his.

“Ah, seems there’s a decent crowd tonight,” Kuroo says, finally unlinking his arm from Tsukishima’s. “Why don’t you find an open table?”

“Okay.”

While Kuroo goes to the line, Tsukishima finds a table in the corner and sits, setting his bag under the table.

He has to tell Kuroo tonight. Tsukishima won’t let this secret fester and grow between them. Nothing good will come from lying. He knows that much.

He’s so lost in thought trying to figure out how to best tell Kuroo, ‘hey, when you were humming earlier I realized that we’re soulmates,’ that he doesn’t even realize Kuroo has joined him at the table until a strawberry shortcake and mug of hot chocolate appear in front of him.

“As ordered,” Kuroo says.

“Kuroo,” he starts.

“Hm?”

“…Never mind.” He can’t do this. “Thanks for this.”

“No need to thank me,” Kuroo says, smiling. “That’s not like you, after all.”

“Hey. I thought you said I was polite.”

“Not now that we’re friends, apparently.”

“I still never said we were friends,” Tsukishima mumbles, poking at his shortcake with his fork.

“You really know how to break my heart,” Kuroo says, but Tsukishima refuses to feel bad because he’s smirking.

“Tell me about Kenma-kun,” he says instead of replying.

“You’re really nosy about these things for refusing to say anything about yourself,” Kuroo remarks.

Tsukishima flushes. “That…”

“You don’t have to say anything,” Kuroo says. “Just, you know. I won’t laugh, no matter what it is.”

“You need to stop being nice,” Tsukishima grits out. “It’s weird.”

He swears it’s not his imagination that the smile Kuroo gives him is fond.

“Kenma,” Kuroo says, and Tsukishima convinces himself that the look on his face is because he’s thinking about his best friend, not him. “He doesn’t have a romantic soulmate.”

Tsukishima stares.

“He was born with a yellow thread tied to his pinky finger, not a red one.” Kuroo is looking at his pinky finger now, idly twirling it around, and Tsukishima guesses what he’s going to say next.

“The other end connects to you?”

“Yeah, although I wasn’t able to see it until after we met. It took us a while to work out what it meant, since I knew I had the song, but… Kenma’s never been interested in anyone romantically.” He pauses, and then says, brightly, “So, basically, we’re BFFs.”

Huh. Well, he supposes that explains why Kenma seems to be so attached to Kuroo.

“Kenma was pretty miserable before, because he thought something was wrong with him, so I just wanted to make sure you weren’t going through anything like that.”

Has Kuroo always been this thoughtful? Tsukishima thinks he’s going to suffocate from it. He stares at the table, clutching his fork way too tight and trying to force the words from his throat. _Just_ talk _, damn it. Kuroo-san’s been kind to you and how have you thanked him?_

But before he can get any words out, Kuroo stands up.

“My turn to sing!”

“You’re going to sing?” Tsukishima asks. Stupid question.

“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”

Kuroo grins at him and turns to make his way to the little raised stage. Tsukishima considers joining the people standing around the stage, and then decides against it. He can see and hear well enough from the table, and he doesn’t want Kuroo to see if he reacts to his singing again.

It turns out he made the right choice, because the moment Kuroo starts singing, some song in English, Tsukishima can feel it in his chest. It starts as that almost-painful twinge, but then it’s warm. Really warm.

As Kuroo continues singing, Tsukishima realizes that he recognizes the tune. It’s a song he knows from his childhood, before he stopped listening to music. And as he recalls what the lyrics mean, he flushes the hardest he has today, because Kuroo is singing _Beautiful Soul_ and pointing at him. He’s probably winking, too, but Tsukishima is too far away to be certain.

Does Kuroo know? Is this his way of letting him know the he knows that they’re soulmates? But there’s no way Kuroo has ever heard him singing… He never sings and rarely hums. This is just Kuroo being Kuroo, as usual.

But the worst part is the people glancing back at him to see to whom Kuroo is pointing. Under their gazes, Tsukishima thinks he’s perfectly justified in hiding his face in the table, one hand clutching the fabric of his shirt over his heart as Kuroo’s song fills it.

He tries to get his heart to calm in the time it takes for Kuroo to return to their table after he finishes singing. He sits up and adjusts his glasses, hoping his face isn’t still red, as Kuroo slides into the seat across from him.

“What’d you think?”

“Did you have to point me out like that?” Tsukishima asks. “It’s embarrassing.”

“Aw, it was just a joke,” Kuroo says, and Tsukishima’s heart stutters.

Even though the song was ridiculous and cheesy, and Kuroo is ridiculous and annoying, part of him was still kind of hoping it wasn’t a joke.

“When I was a kid,” he starts. He glances nervously at Kuroo and sees that he’s watching him, serious and attentive. That encourages him, even though he can’t quite meet Kuroo’s eyes. “My parents were childhood friends. It’s like they’ve always known they were soulmates. Growing up with stories about them, I expected it to be like that for me, too. I had all these stupid romantic ideas.

“But I didn’t meet my soulmate. I knew I had the song, and whenever any music made me even the slightest bit emotional, I would wonder. It didn’t matter if I heard someone singing at school, on the radio, whatever. But it never felt _right_ , and eventually I got sick of getting my hopes up every time I heard anyone singing. So I stopped listening.”

“But you’re always listening to music,” Kuroo says, almost a question.

“I’m usually just listening to nature sounds. Waves and stuff. I have some songs, but they’re all instrumental. I wanted to block everything else out. I thought it was cruel that we’re all given a soulmate but no guarantee that we’ll ever meet them.”

He looks right at Kuroo now, and draws his breath to confess what he learned earlier that evening, but Kuroo speaks first.

“Do you want to go out with me?”

“I—what?”

“I like you,” Kuroo says. “Kind of a lot. I probably can’t fulfill your childhood fantasies, but I can promise to try my best to make you happy.”

Tsukishima’s heart feels so full and he knows in that moment that it has nothing to do with some arbitrary universal force deciding that they’re ‘meant to be.’ That’s why he leans across the table, takes Kuroo’s face in his hands, and kisses him on the lips.

“Wow,” Kuroo says. “I gotta say, I was expecting a little more resistance from you.”

“I have to tell you something,” Tsukishima says. No, he has to show him. And then, because he can’t think of anything else, he starts humming the chorus of Beautiful Soul.

He expects Kuroo to laugh at his song choice, but that’s not what happens. What happens is Kuroo puts his hand over his chest and his face absolutely lights up, like he’s never been so happy in his life. It kind of takes Tsukishima’s breath away and he has to stop humming.

“You were humming during clean up earlier,” Tsukishima mumbles, feeling strangely shy. “That’s when I knew.”

“So that’s why you’ve been acting off all evening.”

“You noticed?”

“I always notice you,” Kuroo says.

 _It’s like he said_ , Tsukishima thinks. Soulmates is about compatibility. Kuroo is just one person out of many he happens to be compatible with. The difference is he _knows_ Kuroo, and he happens to actually really, really like him.

“I really, really like you,” he says.

“I like me, too,” Kuroo says, smirking. At Tsukishima’s glare, he adds, “You’re not so bad yourself.”

Well. It’s not like he was expecting Kuroo to act any differently. It’s probably better this way. That’s why, even though Kuroo’s still an ass, Tsukishima leans forward to kiss him again. Kuroo meets him halfway.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm still laughing imagining kuroo singing beautiful soul to tsukki why is this so funny to me.
> 
> ANYWAY i might write other fics set in this 'verse for all my other haikyuu ships (also aro!kenma+kuroo) later. hopefully. they probably won't be as long as this one though, oops.
> 
> thanks for reading!! <3


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